Sustainable regional and spatial planning in Europe and the protection on the water resources

Limassol, Cyprus, 16-17 October 1997

In Limassol, the ministers responsible for spatial planning continued their examination of sustainable development in Europe, emphasising that it was necessary to define a European approach to regional planning which would allow sustainable and balanced development in all of Europe.

Recognising the need to increase their efforts to identify priorities and principal objectives for a global policy of regional planning, the conference recommended organising European meetings, which were intended to:

  • encourage awareness-raising of what is at stake for sustainable development and the repercussions on the present and future way of life;
  • improve co-ordination between the various sectoral policies so as to bring sectoral development in line with principles of sustainable development;
  • provide an answer to the challenge of Europe’s next century by introducing models of development that are acceptable to Europeans, in which the principles of sustainability, competition, progress, economic development, working methods and the “European” quality of life would be integrated.

Moreover, it was considered necessary to continue global concertation aimed at identifying the tendencies which will probably characterise the needs and the behaviour of a European society in the 21st century.

Another resolution proposed strategies for managing and protecting fresh-water resources within the global framework of regional planning. Recognising water as an invaluable asset, essential for any form of life, the resolution sees guaranteeing the availability of water as a key role of regional planning. Thus, ministers reaffirmed that guaranteeing water quality and quantity must be one of Europe’s priorities, because good-quality water is essential for regional development. In particular, ministers noted the need to promote effective policies of water management, to define a global, rational European strategy aiming to ensure long-term protection and efficient management of water resources. Within this framework, the conference recommended member states to take various measures at European and national level.

 

 Adopted Resolutions